Ratchet-swivel for drilling-cables.



A. AJHOWARD & J. M. BURGER.

RATCHET SWIVEL FOR DRILLING CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-Z7. 1913- 1,150,196. Patented Aug. 17,1915.

31 wvewl ow i Y This invention A. hammer sha anism,- CALIFORNIAVAND JERRYMIAH M. BURGER,

or ARDMORE, OKLAHOMA.

m'mimswivet F03 DRILLING-CABLES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we,AN DRnw ALI-IOWARD and J ERRYMIAH M; BURGE citizens of the United States, residing at Santa Mariaand Ardmore, respectively, in th counties of Santa Barbara and Carter, respectively, and

vStates of California and Oklahoma, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ratchet-Swivels 1501 Drilling-Cables, .of-whichthe following is a specification; U a relates to new anduseful improvements in ratchet swivels such gasare employed in connectingwirerope leads with drilling, tools in the boring or drilling of Artesian- 01', oil iwellsnandaims, particularly to .provide a deviceof this charactervwhich isextremely simple in construction, :may be cheaply manufactured,will be durable and efiicient in its action, andis composed of, a minimum number of parts so. arranged that the wear on the ratchet parts is inappreciable. H v,

Indrilling Wells with the common drill, it iscustomary to employ a solidrope socket to lessen, the eXpe'nse :of. operation. However, when undermining, a ratchet rope socket is indispensable.- It is, ,therefore, often necessary to. change from one type of rope socketto, the other. This change involves considerable loss, of time and, consequently, considerable-expense, since the babbitt with which thev wire rope is heldin the solid socket must be 'meltedqolut, the wires then bent andLfitted into the ratchet SOCkGR-Q HCl thG babbittrehea-ted, so that the rope will befixed in the proper position. The time usually necessary, to make such a change is from one to one and one-half hours. r c

Being cognizant of the above conditions, the present invention aims to obviate the diflic'ulties; now encountered in substituting a solid socket for a ratchet: socket, and viceversa, by'providinga novelform otratchet swivel which is independent ofthe rope socket and may be quicklywinterposed beto the ,rope socket. nularin shape, and lsunternally screw- I s peci ficatioii of Letters IPate'ntfl Patented Aug, 17, 1915. Application-filed October27, 1913. Serial No, 797,607.

1, Withreference. to the drawings, 7 wherein there has been illustrated, the preferred embodiment of this invention as it is reduced to practice, and throughout ,the several ,views of which simllar reference numerals designatecorresponding parts, Figure 1 is a longitudlnal sectlon taken through the ratchet;,mechanisnr; Fig. 3 is a detailperspective ofthe' ratchet ,pawl in dissembled relationjlfl'fig. 4; is a .detail view in top plan of he ratchet ringrancLFig. 5 isa side elevation of the ratchet cage;

I iProceedingnow' to the description of the drawings The 3 preferred H embodiment of this invention includes a cage or housing 10 in which the ratchet mechanism is arranged, and through which a swivelconnecting rod .11 vextendsso athat it may be operatively connected at, oneterminal to the ratchet device, and at' its othenterminal The housing, 10 is anthreaded at its lower terminal asatIlQ- to receive the reduced threaded ineck 13 of the sub, to which latter memberya stringof tools is attached in theusual, manner during the drilling of the .well. The central chan nel or opening ofthehousing lOl -is reduced at its uppenterminal to snugly receive the reduced portion lat of theconnecting rodl l l, as will bereadily-observedupon reference to Fig}, This reducedopening is flared at the upper. terminal'ot the member; 10 to re,- ceivethe enlarged portion 15 of the connect; ing rod. Upon reference to Fig.1, it will be noted thatthe connecting rod'1'l is enlarged at its upper-end as at 16, and that an annular;shoulder,1 -is formedat the juncture of the enlargedportion 16 and the portion, 15. This shoulder (bears on the upper edge of the housinglO and zoo-acts with thetapered portion 15 in relieving the rod; and casing ofundue strain. The upper terminal of the connectingrod 11 isreduced and externally screwthreaded, producing an attachingnipple 19, which is adapted to receive ,a ropesocket, such isordinarilv provided fonwire, rope.- Thelowentermt nal of; the connectingrod 11 is screw-threaded and extendsto point approximately idway the length of the} main. chamber of the housinglO. v r r a Asa means for normally holding the connecting rod against withdrawal from the housing 10, and at the same time permitting it to be readily removed, should necessity. demand, there has been provided a locking nut 20 which is threaded onthe lower terininal of'the rod 11 which projects into the main chamber of the housing 10. -Between the upper face of the locking nut 20 and the annular shoulder 21, which is defined at the juncture. of the reduced passage'of the member 10 and the main chamber thereof,

is interposed a pair of bearing rings 22 and 23, the adjacent faces of which are formed 'with'annularball bearing race-Ways adapt ed to receive ball bearings 24:. It will be readily observed that by-interposing these ball bearings-between the'locking nut and the shoulder-21,-the rod- 11-is permitted to rotate freely within the casing 10-. I

"Th'e'actml constructionand arrangement of the several parts of the housing and the connecting rod being thus disclosed, it now remains to describe the ratchet mechanism which operates to'check the positive rotation ofthe 'rod 11 within the housing 10, atthe same time permitting the rod to rotate negatively. In this connection, it may be Well to observe, that the ratchet'mechanism is provided for the customary purpose of allowing the rope to resume its natural form after it has been-elongated by reason of the weight of the drilling tools during their movement'through the well and the consequent torsional action on the strands of the rope. I

, The preferred form of ratchet mechanism employed includes a cage 25, a ratchet pawl 26, and a ratchet ring 27. The cage member 25 is, annular in shape, and is formed inithe nature of a cored casting, the upper portion of which is cored out and internally screw-threaded to receive the lower described. Diametrically arranged slots are formed in the flange 30 and the lower por tion of the member 25, as indicated at' 31. These slots receive the arms of theratchet pawl. This ratchet pawl, as best illustrated in detail in Fig. 3, consists of a bar 32, the terminals of which are oppositely beveled at their'lowervedges, asat 33. This 'bar is pivoted at a central point on a pivot pin 34:

carried'by a'pawl hub This hub 35 is annular in shape, andisfbifurcated to re- Genie the 'pawl-bar 32. or; the'upper 'portion of this pawl hub 35 is formed a reduced boss 36. Upon referencejto Fig. 2,

it Will'be observedith'at in the assembled- --lation -ofthe parts, the boss 36 extends through thereducedbore or passage of'the member 25 which, beingof greater diameter than the boss, providesan annularchamber 37 betw'een'the boss and the wall of the bore, In this annular chamber. is received the the ratchet ring,-;being adapted for screw threaded engagement with the threaded bore From the foregoingatheoperation of the med in the reduced neck of the tool 'subl3gdevice will be apparent: The "rope, socket i is threaded on-the member-19 of the rod 11,

and the string of well tools is connected to the sub 13 in the usual manner. The tools are then lowered into the well. It isapparent that the weightof the tools on the wirerope or cable will cause the strandsof the cable to untwist or turn in the direction or other working surface the cable is relieved of the weightof the tools, and immediately retwistsuntil its strands are in normal position. It is thus possible to obtain the necessaryrevolution of the tools at each impact of these members with the surface to 'be drilled, insuring the drilling of a straight round hole, without requiring'the operator to manually revolve the tools from the top of the Well; i

In reduction topractice, it has been found that the form of this invention illustrated in 1 the drawings, J and referred to inJthe above descriptionas the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent i 11. When the drilling tools strike the rock with the adoption of this devicewill'necessarily vary, it is desiredto emphasize the fact that various minor changes indetails of construction, proportion and arrange ment of parts may be resorted to,'when re-' -i quired, without sacrificing any of the ad;

" 1 A device of the character described in- 'cluding a housing, a-swivelrod extending into the housing and having its loweriterminal screw-threaded, means for holding the rod against withdrawal from the hous-' ing, a sub adapted to be threaded into the lowerend of the housing, and a ratchet mechanism connecting the lower terminal of V the swivel rod with the sub, said ratchet Vmechanism including a ratchet ring detachsub extending through the housing at the other end thereof, and a ratchet mechanism interposed between the sub and rod fo-roperatively connecting the sub and rod, said ratchet mechanism includi'nga ratchet'ring, a pawl cage,

a pawl hub mounted for sliding movement in the cage, a pawl bar pivoted in the hub and a spring arranged in the cage and bearing against'the pawl hub for normally holding the pawl in engagement with the ratchet ring. I r

3. A device of the character described including a housing, a swivel rod, a sub,. an d a ratchet mechamsm arranged 1n the housing and ,operatively connecting the adjacent terminals of the sub and rod, said ratchet mechanism including a ratchet ring having threaded engagement with the sub, a pawl cage having threaded engagement with the swivel rod, a pawl hub mounted for vertical sliding movement in the cage, a pawl bar I pivoted at its central point within the cage and a spring arranged in the cage and bearing at one terminal against the pawl hub and at its other terminal against the rod for normally holding the pawl in engagement with the ratchet ring.

4:- A device of the character described including a housing, a swivel rod, a sub, a ratchet mechanism interposed between the adjacent terminals of the sub and the rod for operatively connecting the same, said mechanism including a ratchet ring having threaded engagement with thesub, a ratchet cage having threaded engagement with the rod, there being an opening formed in the bottom wall of the cage, a pawl, said pawl including a bifurcated hub, a bar member pivoted in the bifurcation of the hub, a boss of less diameter than the hub extending upwardly from the upper end thereof, said hub being received within the opening of the bottom wall of the cage and being of a diameter less than the diameter of said opening, and a spring bearing at its upper terminal against the rod and having its lower terminal wound around the said boss and bearing against the said hub for normally holding thebarmember in engagement with the ratchet ring. 7

5. VA device of the character described including a housing, a swivel rod,a sub, and a ratchet mechanism interposed between the adjacent terminals of the sub and rod and arranged in the casing for operatively connecting the rod and sub, said ratchet mechanism including a ratchet ring having threaded engagement with the sub, a pawl cage having threaded engagement with the terminalof the said rod, an annular depending flange formed on the cage, there being diametrically opposed vertically extending slots formed in the flange and lower portion of the cage, a pawl member including a hub,

a reduced boss formed on the upper terminal thereof, and a pivoted bar member, said bar ,member having its terminal portions arranged in the said slots, and yieldable means surrounding the boss and engaging the hub for normally holding the bar member in engagement with the ratchet ring.

6. A device of the character described including a housing, a swivel rod, a sub, and a ratchet mechanism interposed between the adjacent terminals of the sub and rod for operatively connecting the same, said mechanism including a ratchet ring, a pawl cage, a pawl hub. having its upper terminal freely received within the cage and its low-er terminal freely received within the ratchet ring, a pawl bar pivoted within the hub, and yieldable means for normally holding the pawl bar in engagement with the ratchet rings.

7 A device of the character described including a housing, a swivel rod, a sub, and a ratchet mechanism op-eratively connecting the sub and rod, said mechanism including a pawl cage having the lower terminals of its Wall bifurcated at diametrically. opposite points, a pawl hub slidably received within the cage, a pawl bar extending transversely through the hub and pivoted therein, the terminals of said pawl bar being mounted within the bifurcations, a ratchet ring receiving the lower terminal of the pawl bar and the lower terminal of the hub and engageable by the hub, and yieldable means normally holding the pawl bar in engagement with the ratchet ring.

In testimony whereof we aifix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

' ANDREW A. HOl/VARD. [L. s.] JERRY M. BURGER. [L. s.] Witnesses as to the signature of A. A. Howard:

A. B. BIGBEE, J. F. SMITH. WVitnesses as to the signature of J. M. Burer: g JAMES E. MITCHELL, H. G. POTTERF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentl, Washington, D. G," 

